The last two weeks have given us a few different seasons worth of weather, but this hasn’t stopped you hardy blues from lacing up and hitting the roads and trails.

Parkrun
Lots of tourism over the past couple of weeks with GBRC runners representing at Sheringham, Orpington, Skipton, Haigh Woodland, Loch Neaton, Chilton Fields, Rendlesham Forest, Lime Park Fields, Bushy, Roding Valley, Ally Pally, Bognor Regis, Fort William, Thornham Walks along with all the local favourites.

Did you know that Parkrun was founded by Paul Sinton-Hewitt on October 2, 2004, in Bushy Park, London. Initially called the Bushy Park Time Trial, it evolved into a network of events and was rebranded as parkrun in 2008. This means in a little over a month, Parkrun will be celebrating it’s 20th anniversary. Parkrun now operates in over 2,000 locations across 22 countries on five continents.

Robbie Lee earned himself a pushchair PB at Colchester Castle Parkrun with a time of 23:45

Charlie Keitch ran 19:49 at Skipton parkrun. This is a hilly four lap course with more elevation than Colchester Castle. This is Charlie’s 49th different parkrun course, so one more to go to reach the milestone of 50.

Scott Young ran Haigh Woodland Parkrun in a time of 29:24. The route is a 2.5k downhill with another 2.5k to get back up.

Please make a note in your diaries for the C in the GBRC parkrun tourism series. This has recently been rescheduled to September 7th at Clare Castle Parkrun. Keep on eye on the GBRC Facebook group for updates.

Ingatestone Five Mile Road Race
The 39th annual running of the Ingatestone Five Mile Road Race took place on Sunday 18th August. This year the race has been included in the Essex County Championship. The course is an undulating country route with a downhill final mile and saw a field of 318 runners.

Rather fittingly, the GBRC entrants numbered five. John Mann ran 30:50, Magdalena Komorowska 37:17, Lisa Briggs 37:18, Inga Hayden-Cooper 41:40 and Gary C 57.12. Great times all around.

Clacton Half Marathon and 10K
The 18th August also saw the running of the Half and 10k along the top and bottom promenades of Clacton seafront. The course is described as largely flat, apart from the hills that is!

In the 10k Flynn Eyre crossed the line in third place overall and first Junior Male in a blazing time of 37:53.

Stephen Bullen crossed the line in 40:19, earning himself 9th place overall and first in the MV50 category. Other GBRC runners were Ray Baggs, 48:24, Katie Siggery 55:28, Catherine Ott 1:03:04, Sarah Blewden 1:03:54 and Lou Balfour 1:18:11.

In the Half Marathon event Gavin Byrne finished in 7th place overall in a time of 1:22:21. A cracking time, especially as Gavin suffered a stitch at kilometre 14.

Also running for the blues were James Eyre 1:35:09, Malcolm Statham 1:45:29; Donna Harris 1:58:49; Mark Harris 2:04:10, Tim Clifton 2:12:07, Sammy Cotton 2:36:12 and Bee Harris 2:36:13.

Chelmer Trail
Sue Wright took part in the Chelmer Trail, also on 18th August. Congratulation on not getting lost and your time of 1:19:43

As the Olympics have recently finished, I thought I’d finish the newsletter with a fact about the ancient Greek Olympiads. Participants were required to run completely naked. This practice was part of the cultural norms of the time, emphasising both athletic prowess and the celebration of the human body. The tradition was rooted in the belief that athletes should compete in their natural state, showcasing their physical form without any clothing hindrance.

As usual great running everyone and don’t forget to double knot those laces.